Page 76 of Last Fall

Probably why we were now looking like the favorites heading into the playoffs. I still couldn’tbelieveit.

It was about as mind blowing as coming home to Zoe in yoga pants. “Is that what you usually write in?” I tossed my bag into thecorner.

She glanced around her laptop. “I call this uniformnumbertwo.”

“Uniform?” I sat on the corner of the bed and got rid of my shoes. “Is that like my baseballuniform?”

She set the laptop aside and pulled her knees up, watching me undress with a heck of a lot of intent. “Sort of. This one is the ‘I might need to be decent in public’ uniform. Yoga pants, t-shirt, flip-flops. Easy, comfortable, mostly appropriate even when I haven’t brushed my hair intwodays.”

She’d definitely brushed her hair recently. She had one of those fancy buns on the top of her head and she looked a hell of a lot more than decent. She lookeddamngood.

“And your otheruniform?”

She grimaced. “That’s the ‘sweatpants, no-shower, I haven’t stopped writing in three days, I don’t know who I am anymore’uniform.”

“I bet you’re still sexy insweats.”

She shuddered. “You should know now, before we get any further into this...me on a deadline is not pretty. It’s actually quitegross.”

“Maybe you just need someone who can make breaks and showers moreinteresting.”

Her cheeks turned that pretty shade of pink. “Or maybe I’ll just reserve writing sprints of that intensity to when you’re ontheroad.”

Planning for me to be gone? In this instance I didn’t mind. “My schedule is intense, Zo. I’m sorryaboutthat.”

“Mine is too. I think if we spend some time together and decide we want this to be a long-term thing, we’re going to have to have some serious conversations about schedules and expectations.” Her cheeks turned from pink to red, which wasn’t what I wantedatall.

I touched her arm. “Darlin’. I thought you said you were going to,” what was the word she used? “Pantsthis?”

She smiled. “You’re right. I just spent some time today thinking about how weird our schedules are and that in a really strange way, it might actually be a goodthing.”

Well, I liked the sound of that. “Stop thinking so much.” I stood up and pulled my shirt free of my pants. Her eyes followed all of my movements. “Are you done with work? Should I go make us some food and leave you be for a bitlonger?”

She shut the laptop. “I planned on quitting when you got home. By the way, thanks for inviting me over. Your space has really nice vibes. I wrote more today than I have all week.” She plugged the laptop in and set it on the edge of my dresser. “So yes, I’m done with work and ready to hang outwithyou.”

“Was the bed comfortable? Is there anything I can get to make working here better? A chair? A desk?” I really liked seeing her things mixed with mine and if she was going to spend time here I wanted it to work for both of us, not just be convenientforme.

“My office is mobile and I prefer writing in bed. They tell me it’s bad for my back, but it’s good for my paycheck so I go to yoga with June and hope it corrects most of my badbehavior.”

Speaking of bad behavior. “Sit back. Scoot. Getcomfortable.”

I waited while she slid back then I went over and flicked on the lamp so I could kill the overhead light. It made the room feel a little more like a bedroom and less like aworkzone.

Then I startedundressing.

She grinned, but didn’t sayanything.

“You had some questions last night and I hope I answered them to your satisfaction.” I’d spent a good hour in the shower when I got home this morning acting out all the things I wished I had been able to do with Zoe. I had a feeling that shower and I were going to be very well acquainted for the foreseeablefuture.

“Youdid.”

I dropped my pants and stood in front of her in my boxers. “Anymore questions that you may have thought of today? I’m here, mostly naked, and ready to provideanswers.”

“You’re quite adorable.” She fought back agiggle.

“Why thank you.” I performed a bow. “Now,questions?”

She studied me slowly, taking me in inch by inch in a way she probably couldn’t last night. I was surprised by her first question. “You called yourselfboring.Why?”